


Passionate (from miles away)

by palateens



Series: a bunch of dex fics [7]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Dex is great with his hands, Getting Together, M/M, Painting, Pining, but this is a g rated fic so don't get too excited, canon-typical alcohol use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 21:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11632620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palateens/pseuds/palateens
Summary: “You’re destroying a perfectly good cooler for his birthday?” he asks incredulously.ORThe one where Dex helps Lardo with Ransom's birthday gift.





	Passionate (from miles away)

**Author's Note:**

> originally prompted for dexrarepairweek

It’s mid March of Dex’s Frog year. He’s trudging back to the Haus after his CS 225 midterm. He’s exhausted, done with classes, and all he wants to do is unwind. He gets as far as laying his head against the armrest of the green couch when a loud mechanical screeching startles the ever living fuck out of him. It continues long enough for him to recognize that it’s the sound of an electric sander roaring from somewhere below.

Against his better judgement, he follow the sound to the basement door. Which, coincidentally has a paper signed taped on it reading “busy: do not disturb.”

“Too late,” he grumbles.

Down below, Lardo has donned a paint mask, and is sanding the shit out of a beer cooler. He can faintly hear her growl as he continues his descent.

She turns off the sander, practically ripping her mask off.“What part of ‘Do not disturb’ do you not get, Poindexter?”

“The part where you’re sanding something at two pm on Wednesday,” he argues.

“Fuck, it’s two already?” Lardo grabs her phone, checking the clock. “I don’t have time for this.”

He stares at the cooler for a long moment. “What is this?”

“Ransom’s birthday gift,” she answers impatiently.

“You’re destroying a perfectly good cooler for his birthday?” he asks incredulously.

“I’m painting it with shit he likes and then resealing it with famowood.”

Dex whistles, impressed.

“Or I will,” she mutters. “If I ever get this done on time.”

Truth be told, Dex was all too aware of the fact that Ransom’s birthday was coming up. He’d been wracking his brain for something to impress him.

Because Justin’s a good captain and a great friend. And not because Dex has been crushing on him since the first day of his Frog year. No, he definitely doesn’t blush every time Justin smiles at him. And neither does Dex feel his stomach drop every time he hears Ransom’s laugh. It’s not like he looks at Justin and wonders if he’s the kind of person he wishes he could be; or if this is what love feels like.

No, Dex has never felt any of those things.

So when the opportunity to both use power tools, and help out with Justin’s birthday present themselves, he has to ask.   
“What do you still need to do?”

Lardo blanches at him. “Well…I need to finish sanding. Then I have to spray a primer and let that dry. Then I need to put two base coats of cheap acrylic on the lid and all four sides. And that’s everything before I even start figuring out the designs. ”

“I can do that,” he concludes.

“Really?” She tilts her head quizzically. “No offense, Dex. But why?”

“He deserves a good birthday,” he puts simply.

Lardo crosses her arms, clearly unimpressed with his answer. “Uh uh.”

Instead of interrogating him, however, she hands him her mask. “Don’t forget to use this. Keep a window open when you’re spraying primer. Read the instructions on the can. I’ll be back by eight.”

He nods. It’s simple enough.

Dex misses working in his Uncle’s hardware shop. Half the time, his work was comprised of helping clueless people get started on their home renovation projects. On a good day, a few answered questions about outdoor paint lead to impromptu jobs the next Saturday. He breathes a little easier as the pulse of the sander numbs his hands. His mind drifts off to the first time he ever thought of kissing Ransom.

_/.\\_

They were on a roadie, driving through upstate New York. Nursey and Holster were comparing notes about the latest episode of Brooklyn 99 while Ransom typed away on a lab report. Dex, meanwhile, was struggling with an MP. He was sitting across the aisle from Ransom, trying to not disturb him as he fought off the urge to throw his laptop across the bus. He didn’t notice how furious his coding had gotten until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned slightly, ready to snap at whoever was interrupting him. But there was Justin, with a level and empathetic gaze.

“Homework kicking your ass again?” Ransom chirped.

“Yeah,” Dex reluctantly admitted.

Ransom made him scoot over to the window seat, claiming Dex’s old one. “Tell me what’s going wrong,” he instructs softly.

So Dex walks him through the basics. What the program is supposed to do, how he structured his logic, and what syntax errors he’d found so far. In the middle of rambling, an epiphany hits Dex.

“Fuck, this function is completely off,” he mutters.

“So…you know what to fix?” Ransom asks.

“Yeah,” he nods absentmindedly.

“Good,” Ransoms says. “I knew you could do it.”   
Maybe Dex knew what he felt for Ransom wasn’t purely platonic. But the look of certain pride on Ransom’s face as Dex fixed his MP was the final nail in the coffin.

Lardo comes back around eight, as promised. By that point, Dex has sanded, primed, and applied the base coats on all five sides.

“Bro, nice,” Lardo declares. She offers him a fist bump.

“Really?”

She crinkles her nose. “Yeah? You just saved me three days.”

“Swawesome,” he says quietly.

Dex steps back. He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. He’s enjoying the work. He liked painting the base coat. It was soothing.

“So I was, uh, thinking,” he starts. “I don’t know a lot about real painting but I’m pretty neat, and I can follow directions well. Maybe I could help you out with the rest?”

Lardo raises an eyebrow cryptically. She purses her lips, ultimately nodding.

“Ok we have five sides to work with and technically the corners,” she explains.

“What do you put in the corners?”

“Small stuff, like solo cups or bowties. But that’s optional.”

“Ok,” he tries to keep the disdain out of his tone.

“The lid is going to be a Lilly Pulitzer design with his monogram in the center.” Lardo pulls out her pocket sketchbook, scribbling down some quick drawings.

“One side is going to be several Nigerian flags layered around each other. Then the hockey side is gonna be our beer pong table during a kegster and that Gretzky quote ‘you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’.”

“Of course,” he sighs.

She ignores him. “One side will be the Toronto skyline but the clouds are gonna look like the cover of Drake’s ‘Nothing Was the Same’.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t know how to make an entire side based on Degrassi without binge watching it,” she says. “Which I really don’t have time for.”

“Fair,” he acquiesces.

“I think one side should be the chemical compounds that make up whiskey.” Lardo shrugs. “Y’know nerdy enough that he likes it. Vague enough that he doesn’t feel awkward looking at it if he doesn’t go to med school or something.”

“Cool,” he hums. “So that’s four sides.”

“Yea, I’m…unsure about the last one,” her eyes narrow.

“What are you thinking?”

“I feel like I’m missing something,” she groans. “Coolers should tell a story y’know?”

He stares at the cooler for a while, imagining what it might look like when it’s done. It hits him, “you’re missing Samwell. Not the kegsters, but actually living here.”

“Huh,” she clicks her tongue. “Ok, what do we do?”

An image of Ransom staring out a fourth floor window on a cool fall afternoon enters Dex’s mind. “Have you seen his favorite study room?”  
“The one in the library that overlooks the Pond?”

“Yeah, that one.”

She stares at him again like she’s trying to figure out what he’s about. “Okay, let’s do it.”

They spend the next few afternoons working individually. Lardo would come in and sketch what she needed for each layer of paint. Dex would comply with great precision and the most liberal use of painter’s tape imaginable. On sunday they apply a thin coat of finishing glaze and set up a secure perimeter around it.

Throughout this time, only Bitty is allowed in the basement for secret keeping purposes. Which, incidentally, pisses off Holster who is down to his last pairs of underwear.

Dex is proud of what they’re doing. Still, he wishes there were something else he could do that wasn’t co-opting off Lardo’s idea. The next Saturday is Ransom’s birthday. They haul the cooler upstairs for everyone to see.

“Happy birthday,” Lardo announces as they set the cooler on the kitchen table in front of Justin.

“No,” Ransom gawks. “You didn’t.”

“Oh, but we did,” Lardo preens. She elbows Dex gently in the ribs. “Dex’s soft hands were a big help.”

“Guys this is perfect,” Ransom murmurs. His gaze goes from Lardo to Dex. “Seriously, thanks.”

Dex clears his throat, trying to hide his blush behind a cough. “No problem. Happy Birthday, Rans.”

_/.\\_

After presents, they start to set up for Ransom’s birthday kegster. The cooler is stowed away safely in a corner of the attic. Sometime during the kegster, Ransom decides they might need more beer storage. So he decides there’s no better time to break in his birthday present. The lid is a little loose so he pops it open to readjust it when he notices a giftwrapped box.

Since no one will miss him for a while, Ransom sits down on Holster’s bed and opens it. There’s a terrarium and a note inside.

I saw this and thought of you. So I got it just because I thought you might like it.

Justin chuckles as he recognizes the handwriting. Of course Dex thought helping Lardo wasn’t enough of a gift. He places the terrarium carefully on his desk. Then he goes downstairs to find Dex who’s chatting with Shitty on the front porch.

“Dex.” Ransom waves him to follow. They end up in the kitchen, which is very dark and mostly empty.

“Thanks for the gift. The other gift,” Ransom clarifies.

Dex shrugs, trying to look nonchalant as his face brightens. “I remember you saying the only downside to winter is that there’s no foliage to appreciate.”

Ransom chuckles. “Is that the only thing you’ve noticed?”

“No,” he admits. “I’ve noticed the way you only listen to music when you’re not doing anything else. And I’ve noticed the frown you get when your assignments are too easy. That’s why you procrastinate so much, right?”

“Guilty.” Justin leans in closer. Close enough so their faces are only a centimeter apart. “But it’s not procrastination if you’re doing something you like, y’know?”

“No I don’t,” Dex banters playfully. “Tell me about it.”

“How about I show you instead?”

Justin kisses him. Not because of the terrarium. But because he’s been noticing Dex noticing him for months. Justin had plenty of time to think about what he wants. All he wanted to do right now was take a leap.

**Author's Note:**

> fic title - lyrics from Passionfruit by Drake 
> 
> yep, still posting these. I'm behind.


End file.
